Author Topic: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth  (Read 17115 times)

Offline Rosinish

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #27 on: Tuesday 22 September 15 23:53 BST (UK) »
Plenty to read on the Mercers......

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01g6p/

Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

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Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

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Offline Cagger

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #28 on: Wednesday 23 September 15 02:32 BST (UK) »
Thanks Annie

Yes I am aware of the Mercermillions website and have been in contact with them a number of times.

My interest here is in the wife of William Mercer (Captain in HEICS) killed in a duel in India in 1801. Her name was Barbara Drummond Forbes (Mercer). There's very little around but I am gathering more each day.

Thanks for the input.

Regards

Offline buckhyne

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #29 on: Wednesday 23 September 15 21:58 BST (UK) »
This is the photograph I took 15 years ago....
The Mercer tablet is the one nearest the building...


...and these are the ones I took today




As you can see there is a large bush/tree covering the tablets.
The good news is that I managed to photograph the faded inscription.
I had to darken it in photoshop but it definitely says Barbara FORBES
(just above the orange stain).


I will go back and try and prune the tree and attempt a decent photo.
Lawrie name in Fife (and elsewhere) with all its various spellings.

Offline Cagger

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #30 on: Wednesday 23 September 15 23:29 BST (UK) »
Buckhind - you are a star!

Looks like that is her and a decent photo would be fantastic. That's part of the mystery solved. Given that she's buried there any ideas on where I search to find when?

Thanks and regards
Cagger


Offline buckhyne

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #31 on: Friday 25 September 15 09:31 BST (UK) »
Hi Cagger,
I took some close-ups of the headstone in the hope of reading the inscription.
It clearly starts:
Sacred
to the memory of
William Mercer ESQ.
of Deuglies
and
Elizabeth Swan

But that is as far as I can decipher.
At the bottom of the stone it says:
Barbara Forbes
HEICS William Mercer
Then there is another line which I cannae read.
Perhaps you can read it better.








Lawrie name in Fife (and elsewhere) with all its various spellings.

Offline buckhyne

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #32 on: Friday 25 September 15 09:38 BST (UK) »
I’m no a lumberjack or a gardener so I only had a wee hacksaw to cut down the tree covering the headstone.
I managed to hack away several branches.
Then the rains came.
These photos are the best I could do.




Lawrie name in Fife (and elsewhere) with all its various spellings.

Offline buckhyne

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #33 on: Friday 25 September 15 11:59 BST (UK) »
Buckhind - you are a star!

Looks like that is her and a decent photo would be fantastic. That's part of the mystery solved. Given that she's buried there any ideas on where I search to find when?

Thanks and regards
Cagger

The normal place to look is the Monumental Inscriptions but we have already looked there.
I checked out the Perth Directory but mine only goes back to 1837.
I tried the newspapers of the day but only found four cuttings regarding the family.
1786: The Estate of William Mercer, late of Potterhill.
1809: marriage of Eliza Forbes Mercer to Richard Charles Blunt.
1823: Description of Potterhill (it was for sale).
1841: Death of Graeme Mercer, brother of Willie the HEICS.

Bingo!!!
I just remembered to check the wills & testaments in Scotlandspeople.
I found her
FORBES   BARBARA   22/05/1812   MRS, WIDOW OF CAPT. WILLIAM MERCER; D. AT PERTH  INVENTORY ST ANDREWS COMMISSARY COURT
It costs 10 credits to view the will (4 pages).

The will is dated 22/05/1812 so obviously she died previous to that.
Lawrie name in Fife (and elsewhere) with all its various spellings.

Offline buckhyne

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #34 on: Friday 25 September 15 12:07 BST (UK) »
I have zipped up the two images I took of the headstone.
They are roughly 7x10 @300dpi which can be printed out.
I have also added the four newspaper cuttings to the zip file.
If you pm me your email address I’ll send the file to you.
Lawrie name in Fife (and elsewhere) with all its various spellings.

Offline AlisonAus

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Re: Pre-1855 Deaths in Perth
« Reply #35 on: Saturday 16 November 19 02:23 GMT (UK) »
buckhyne, what a wealth of generous information you are!

If you are easily able, would it be possible for you to help me with an enquiry? Years ago I saw a report from the early book of cemetery records. I'm guessing that they might be among those whose tombstones are no longer extant or at least legible. The report I saw years ago, but can't now find, spoke of multiple sides of the upright tombstone having different names and generations.

My people were Sligo, (but not Irish).

I have the following detail for my great-great-great-grandfather, Alexander Sligo, who died 25 Feb 1827:
Greyfriars Cemetery, Perth, Block D Plot 158
He was a Hostler to Mr Christie? Vintner at George Inn, Perth in about 1805.

His wife Janet (Meek) was buried in the same plot on 13 Jan 1842 having died on the 10th.

Their son Archibald (a shoemaker who lived and worked in High St) (d.1876) outlived both of his wives (Grace Skellie d. 1847 and Mary Gollan d. 1867) and they are all listed as having been buried in Greyfriars. If I remember correctly from my earlier reading, they might have been in the same plot, or at least Grace and Archibald.

When my parents married 60 years ago, they honeymooned in Scotland. My Mum's Dad wanted her to go to Greyfriars to find the graves of his grandparents. Funnily enough, my Mum declined. My Grandfather died in 1965, and he'd already taken his paternal line back into the 1700s. With all the computing power now available, I've only been able to take his line maybe one generation further back, and I'm not even sure about that, because it seems that at least one of the Sligos had an alias of Forbes. Or maybe it was the other way round.

At some point I will travel from Australia and would love to have a more specific idea of where my ancestors are. buckhyne, are you able to help me out here?

Thank you so much, Alison